4 ms·

On the converse of this, someone has been cybersquatting my last name for about 10 years. Any advice on how to get it? Details: I own the .co.uk version, but n

by sudonim 15y ago

On the converse of this, someone has been cybersquatting my last name for about 10 years. Any advice on how to get it? Details: I own the .co.uk version, but not the .com. My dad has had a company registered (not in the US) with the name in it. The cybersquatter seems to have squatted a bunch of dutch last names and isn't associated with the name at all.

lemma 15y ago
I'm on the same boat. In my case, I even attempted to contact using the "make an offer" form and never received a reply. Strange way to do business.
- sudonim 15y ago
  There is no "make an offer" in my case. It just redirects to an electric bike website.
- cookiecaper 15y ago
  I would never do that. Domain squatters squat just waiting for someone to come around and ask for the domain, that's why they buy them in the first place, and then they try to sell at exorbitant rates ($15k-$20k in my experience). Doubtless some companies pay that, which makes squatting profitable. If you express interest in a domain name, the squatter knows they should renew it forever because at some point when your company makes more money or whatever you'll buy them out for the asking price or something pretty close to it. If you don't express interest and no one else does either, and traffic is minimal, the squatter will drop the domain as unprofitable (no money from the ads on the parking page, no interested buyers = unprofitable domain).
  - lemma 15y ago
    I agree with you, but I did wait around a decade or so before I just got curious one day. It's a fairly uncommon last name and the domain would just be for personal use. Oh well.
flexd 15y ago
I'm in a similar boat. A Norwegian name squatting company holds a bunch of last name domains not really using them for anything besides linking to their site "so everyone with that last name will be able to use it". The problem is the they want like a dollar per month to give you one email address. I'm well aware that is not much but it's annoying that they claim to do this to "share the wealth" of that domain name with everyone with that name. The problem is they are taking money for email addresses and you can't use the domain name (or even a subdomain) for anything. I'm more interested in having the domain for my family, I would have no problem giving subdomains and email addresses to anyone with my name contacting me. At least according to Norwegian law (which is probably similar to International domain laws?) you do not really have a case unless you can prove you have the rights to own that domain. And since you do not really require anything but a name to own a .com you will probably have a hard time doing so :-/
- bigiain 15y ago
  "A Norwegian name squatting company holds a bunch of last name domains not really using them for anything besides linking to their site "so everyone with that last name will be able to use it". The problem is the they want like a dollar per month to give you one email address. " That's a perfectly reasonably business model. Renting email addresses is quite clearly "using" a domain. It might not be a hackernews/startup-web-business, but they've thought of a way to try and make a living and registered the domain first - what makes you think you have any sort of claim to "have rights to own taht domain" than they do?
  - flexd 15y ago
    Yeah I am aware it's a perfectly good business model. But this specific type of domain squatting is incredibly annoying. I couldn't find any information on their website now but they were charging a lot more for just being able to point a sub-domain somewhere. I'm sure I would have found the idea clever if I had thought of it first but the wording on their site makes it seem like they are trying to do people a good service when it seems their sole purpose is to make money (which is understandable).
- 15y ago

by sudonim 15y ago

lemma 15y ago

I'm on the same boat. In my case, I even attempted to contact using the "make an offer" form and never received a reply. Strange way to do business.

sudonim 15y ago
There is no "make an offer" in my case. It just redirects to an electric bike website.
cookiecaper 15y ago
I would never do that. Domain squatters squat just waiting for someone to come around and ask for the domain, that's why they buy them in the first place, and then they try to sell at exorbitant rates ($15k-$20k in my experience). Doubtless some companies pay that, which makes squatting profitable. If you express interest in a domain name, the squatter knows they should renew it forever because at some point when your company makes more money or whatever you'll buy them out for the asking price or something pretty close to it. If you don't express interest and no one else does either, and traffic is minimal, the squatter will drop the domain as unprofitable (no money from the ads on the parking page, no interested buyers = unprofitable domain).
- lemma 15y ago
  I agree with you, but I did wait around a decade or so before I just got curious one day. It's a fairly uncommon last name and the domain would just be for personal use. Oh well.

flexd 15y ago

I'm in a similar boat. A Norwegian name squatting company holds a bunch of last name domains not really using them for anything besides linking to their site "so everyone with that last name will be able to use it". The problem is the they want like a dollar per month to give you one email address. I'm well aware that is not much but it's annoying that they claim to do this to "share the wealth" of that domain name with everyone with that name. The problem is they are taking money for email addresses and you can't use the domain name (or even a subdomain) for anything. I'm more interested in having the domain for my family, I would have no problem giving subdomains and email addresses to anyone with my name contacting me. At least according to Norwegian law (which is probably similar to International domain laws?) you do not really have a case unless you can prove you have the rights to own that domain. And since you do not really require anything but a name to own a .com you will probably have a hard time doing so :-/

bigiain 15y ago
"A Norwegian name squatting company holds a bunch of last name domains not really using them for anything besides linking to their site "so everyone with that last name will be able to use it". The problem is the they want like a dollar per month to give you one email address. " That's a perfectly reasonably business model. Renting email addresses is quite clearly "using" a domain. It might not be a hackernews/startup-web-business, but they've thought of a way to try and make a living and registered the domain first - what makes you think you have any sort of claim to "have rights to own taht domain" than they do?
- flexd 15y ago
  Yeah I am aware it's a perfectly good business model. But this specific type of domain squatting is incredibly annoying. I couldn't find any information on their website now but they were charging a lot more for just being able to point a sub-domain somewhere. I'm sure I would have found the idea clever if I had thought of it first but the wording on their site makes it seem like they are trying to do people a good service when it seems their sole purpose is to make money (which is understandable).
15y ago